Quotes About Morality

advocates of evolutionary theory since Thomas H. Huxley (1825–95) have found altruism problematic.

The hanifs had little impact on their contemporaries, because they were chiefly concerned with their own personal salvation. They had no desire to reform the social or moral life of Arabia, and their theology was essentially negative. Instead of creating something new, they simply withdrew from the mainstream. Indeed the word hanif may derive from the root HNF: "to turn away from." They had a clearer idea of what they did not want than a positive conception of where they were going.

men and women were naturally prone to lie, steal, and murder, and these evil impulses could be forcibly held in check only by a strong, authoritative government.

Joden moesten de Tora strikter naleven dan ooit tevoren. Het was niet langer voldoende geen moord te plegen, ze moesten ook hun woede inhouden. Niet alleen overspel was verboden, een man mocht zelfs niet begerig naar een vrouw kijken. De oude wetten van vergelding - een oog voor een oog en een tand voor een tand - werden opzij gezet: de joden moesten nu zelfs wie hen op de rechterwang sloeg, hun linkerwang toekeren en hun vijanden liefhebben.

the moral and spiritual imperatives of religion are important for humanity and should not be relegated unthinkingly to the scrap heap of history in the interests of an unfettered rationalism.

the anonymous Chinese author we know as Laozi pointed out that no matter how good his intentions, violence always recoils upon the perpetrator.

Mr. Darwin demonstrated that we- male and female alike- were descended from wild animals. Women, held high in men's esteem and given the task of living up to a higher moral standard, seemed as capable as men of bestial behavior. Jonathan claimed that the women seduced him. It made sense, I suppose. It wasn't as if men evolved from beasts and women evolved from angels. But if women too gave free rein to our base wants, as I did in my dreams, what would happen to our society?

In 2004, Jacques Derrida said that a change was under way. Torture damages the inflicter as well as the inflicted. It's no coincidence that one of the Abu Ghraib torturers came to the military directly from a job as a chicken processor. It might be slow, Derrida said, but eventually the spectacle of our abuse of animals will be intolerable to our sense of who we are.

No one with real integrity tries to sell their integrity to you. People with real integrity hardly notice they have it.

Don't side with assholes," she said. Her voice was very not chill.

the world runs on the fuel of an endless, fathomless animal misery.

Do onto others as you would have others do unto you' is our highest, most developed morality, Dr. Sosa said. And really the only one necessary; all the others flow from that; you don't need Ten Commandments. But if you do believe, as I do, that morality starts with God, then you have to wonder why He simultanelously hardwired us against it.

It might be slow, Derrida said, but eventually the spectacle of our abuse of animals will be intolerable to our sense of who we are.

If we give ourselves permission to say this death justifies that one, then we truly are lost.

It was not the time to recall all those really horrifying nursery stories she'd read, Bluebeard, Babes in the Wood, Little Red Riding Hood. Why is it that children's stories are so filled with monsters like wolves and witches who eat children, and men who kill their wives? And to think, that people actually sat and told their children such things.

Not everyone is going to like you, son. And good people don't do good so that they'll win popularity contests. They do good because its the right thing to do.

People who wouldn't dream of drowning a puppy in a barrel full of water think nothing of killing a fish the same slow way.

Everything Jacen did to grab power was within the law. There's law, and there's justice, and sometimes they're not the same thing.

It was an ethical choice between rules or lives, and rules didn't always translate into what was right.

It never ceased to amaze Skirata how much simpler it was to buy and sell death than it was to pay taxes.

There is a fine line between neutral and amoral. In fact, there may be no line there at all.

The monsters don't run the gulags and the death camps and the reeducation centers. Regular people do. If they all had the balls to say no, the likes of Halsey, Zhou, or Stalin could never do it all on their own. Could they?

Fett, I have a beautiful daughter...' He shouldn't have said that. Now I'm angry, and I don't often get angry. 'Never use your kids, scumbag. Never.

This is how corruption begins. One small concession at a time. One thing you feel you have to do for a good reason.